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Bay Street Theater Marks the Start of the Season with 'The Man in the Ceiling'

Bay Street Theater kicks off its mainstage season with the touching story of a boy cartoonist who draws the life he wants.

What do you get when you gather together a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist, a number-one Billboard chart-topping composer, and a Tony Award-winning producer? Why, The Man in the Ceiling, the new musical that will debut at Bay Street Theater on May 30. With a book by Jules Feiffer, music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, and direction by Jeffrey Seller (who produced the Broadway smash Hamilton), the limited-run play is sure to be a hit.

“I love stories about families who are trying to love each other and support each other even when they are conflicting in other ways,” says Seller. “I fell in love with Jules Feiffer’s work in high school, and it’s a privilege and a pleasure to work with him now.”

Based on a young adult novel that Feiffer published in 1994, the musical tells the story of a boy cartoonist who is misunderstood by his family and finds support with the imaginary comic characters he invents.

Although a cartoonist himself, Feiffer demurs when asked if the play is autobiographical. “It’s fiction,” he explains. “I like to make up stories, which means that I like to be as surprised by what happens as the reader is. Lippa and Seller have taken my novel and turned it into a gorgeous family play about a real family, which is at the same time funny and moving and satirical and outrageous. It’s been a joyous and great experience all around.” 1 Bay St., Sag Harbor, 725-9500